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So why exactly is this obligatory for applicants?
If I may interject, I believe most of this shadowing/EC nonsense derives from the ongoing arms race between applicants. The MCAT is similar. Older physicians have told me that before the mid 1980's few premeds even studied for the MCAT. Now people routinely spend thousands of dollars on the one of the litany of prep courses. Gotta keep up with the competition, and every year it becomes more difficult to stand out.
Tired said:It's just all part of this myth that medicine is some kind of special, transcendent experience, when in fact it's just one more career.
You're welcome to your opinion, but when I look into the microscope and realize the person on the bed next to me has seen their last Christmas, it feels a little transcendent.
If I gave in to the more jaded than thou approach so popular with my colleagues then I would see my work as "just one more career," but I choose not to. Being sick and either healing or dying is one of the most powerful experiences humans can have, and we get to participate. That's gotta be worth something.
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